Custom fitting for all your clubs from driver, fairway, hybrid, irons, wedges, and putter is extremely important as golf equipment isn’t cheap, so ensuring you have the right model’s custom built with expert professional advice is essential to playing more consistent and enjoyable golf.
All golfers are different heights and builds, with varying levels of ability and with a broad age differential, juniors to our senior golfers and all requiring different needs and performance from their golf equipment. There is lots of information readily available online, via YouTube, social media, and marketing from club manufacturers, but I have always believed you need to try and hit the product to know for sure.
So, what is involved in a custom fit?
First is understanding the need for the fitting, which is different for every golfer we see. Is it your clubs are 7 years old or older and you’re looking to see gains from modern technology. Have your needs changed, has your golf game improved and you require less forgiveness and more performance or alternatively you are wanting more help from your equipment than you’ve been getting from your current set. Is it simply a treat and you would like some new golf equipment or is it an itch, your current clubs are working well but you want to know if there is something out their better than you currently have.
Let’s be clear the most important piece of equipment in your bag is your swing and skill level, the better this is the more repeatable your action will be, however improving technique and skill requires practice and time, not something readily available to everyone. So having your clubs made to measure for you, is the fastest way to see improvement in your game.
The next stage as fitters is to offer advice on what model types with brands is going to be better suited to achieving a customer’s needs/goals. For example, with Titleist products:
Drivers: TSR1 TSR2 TSR3 TSR4 (4 models all varying in performance)
Fairways: TSR1 TSR2 TSR3 (3 models all vary in performance)
Hybrids: TSR1 TSR2 TSR3 (3 models all vary in performance)
Irons: T350 T200 T150 T100 CB MB (6 models all vary in performance)
Wedges:
Lofts: 46-48-50-52-54-56-58-60-62
Grinds: F Grind D Grind K Grind S Grind M Grind T Grind
Putters:
Super Selects: Newport/Plus Newport 2/Plus Del Mar Newport 2.5 Plus Squareback 2 fastback 1.5 Golo 6/6.5
Phantom X: 5/5.5/5S 6/6.5 7/7.5 9/9.5 11/11.5 12
As you can see from the current Titleist line listed there is a big variance in the amount of head types in models whether you’re looking to replace a driver, or your wedges click here for more advise on wedges:
When should I upgrade my wedges? (acego1f.co.uk)
Every brand whether you choose Titleist, Callaway or Taylormade etc are going to have multiple options with their current range that perform differently and seeking expert advice on which is correct for you is very important.
Finally, once you have decided on the correct head type, lie angle is extremely important as this can have an affect on strike but most importantly on direction. When we talk about lie angle, we are looking at the dynamic lie angle at impact. A lie angle that is correct has the sole of the club lying perfectly flat on the ground at impact promoting a squarer clubface helping to hit straighter golf shots. If the club is too upright then the heel will be more down at impact and because of face plane tilt (FPT) this closes the clubface, points more left of the target for a right-handed golfer. If the club is too flat, then this will make the toe more down at impact and because of FPT opening the clubface to the target line (pointing right) for a right-handed golfer.
Ok, So I know there’s a lot that goes into head selection, but what do I do about the shaft?
Shaft selection for me comes next once you have established the head type that is best going to suit your swing, achieve your goals and improve your overall efficiency, complementing this then with the correct shaft is very important. There is a large number of shafts available out there in today’s market and seeking advice from professionals who have a full range of shafts available to try is extremely important. Simply put shafts vary in flex, x-stiff, stiff, regular, A-flex and ladies flex and mainly this can be established from clubhead speed. Within the different flexes there will be differences in torque, weight and kick points which then also affect the launch, spin, and peak height of your golf shots. Again, its important to note that the ball flight is mainly caused by the impact factors each individual golfer delivers to the golf ball, however if theses can be improved by specific custom fitted clubs, improvements can be made much quicker than with practice.
Wow there’s a lot that goes into picking the correct head model and then shaft, can this be measured?
Yes it can! Nearly every professional out there custom fitting now will have a launch monitor system, the two best on the market are Trackman 4 and GC quad. Here at Stuart Runcie Golf we have the Trackman 4 which provides 30 different numbers for every golf shot struck providing information on
- Club data - Club speed Club path Angle of attack (and many more)
- Launch data - Ball speed Spin rate Launch angle (and many more)
- Flight data - Carry Height Land angle (and many more)
The Trackman 4 has a fantastic piece of software called the optimizer and is a fantastic measuring tool, showing the optimum ball flight for a particular club with the club speed provided. It provides the optimal:
- Angle of attack
- Spin Loft
- Ball Speed
- Launch Angle
- Spin Rate
- Height
This lets you know how near or far you are from this, picture below:
Once the correct shaft has been decided, ensuring the correct length is extremely important when it comes to consistent strike.
- Correct length, strike pattern is consistent around the centre of the face.
- Too long, strike is more towards the heel, high on the face or scattered.
- Too short, strike is more towards the toe, low on the face.
Good strike is essential for seeing the full benefits of modern technology and making sure your clubs are fitted to the correct length is very important for this.
Ok I know what head model and shaft, is there anything else I need to be aware of?
We’re almost there, now its time to check the correct grip thickness, this can quite often be measured by glove size, however each individual golfer will have their own preferences with grips types and how many wraps of tape under the club. Unless there are any player specific needs or arthritis or any other injuries this can be worked out quite simply with grip measuring tools listed below. You should also check with your PGA professional what different grip types there are available and take some time to feel which you prefer; just be mindful some grips do vary in price and there can be an upcharge for certain grips.
Set make-up
This is extremely important and something that shouldn’t be overlooked, having the correct balance for you’re set matters. For example, if you were to go for new Titleist irons (models listed earlier), depending on whether you go for a T350 or a T100 head will affect how you balance the top half of your bag and the bottom half. A Pitching wedge in a T350 is 43 degrees of loft and in a T100 is 46 degrees of loft, which makes a big difference when you look at your gap wedges and as well as your longer clubs as the 5/4 irons are so delofted in the T350, having hybrids here might be better suited? If your ever thinking of replacing your whole set, I would suggest its good idea to establish which iron head you are going to use and build your wedges and woods around this. Having a well-balanced set with lofts and nice equal gaping is extremely important.
So the next time you are looking to get fitted for a new set of golf clubs make sure you see your local PGA Professional, who can provide the services listed. Or visit the link below to book:
